Liberty to Love
by PJ in NH
Summary: An AU story from the 1st season, P and T find love on the Maquis ship.
1. First Half

Part 1 of 2

**LIBERTY TO LOVE -- P/T **

Synopsis: AU story where both the Maquis ship, the Liberty, and Voyager survive the Caretaker's array explosion, but neither ship knows the other has survived. Tom ends up on the Liberty and finds love with B'Elanna. 

Assumption: That Stadi, Cavit, the human doctor, Dr. Fitzgerald, weren't killed during the journey to the Delta Quadrant. That during the last visit to the array, Paris accompanied the away team. 

DISCLAIMER: Paramount owns Voyager and its characters. I've only borrowed the characters to satisfy my own creative urges. Archiving is okay, just e-mail me. Please keep disclaimer and my name attached. 

RECOGNITION OF APPRECIATION: A very special thanks goes out to my beta readers: Phyllis J. Sutherland, Marleena Mooneyham, and J.A. Toner. 

**LIBERTY TO LOVE   
by PJ in NH**

Rated R

November 1998 

Chapter One 

Three months after the Caretaker's array had exploded, the Maquis ship, the Liberty, and Voyager were both en route on a long journey back to the Alpha Quadrant. Voyager was in the lead, weeks ahead of the smaller ship. They were also unaware, due to unusual spacial disturbances caused by the explosion, that the Liberty and most of its crew had survived. Voyager was also unaware that due to a mix up with the beam up to the two ships just before the Caretaker's array exploded, Tom Paris had been transported to the Maquis ship, the Liberty, and not back to Voyager. 

***^^^***^^^**^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^*** 

"What are you looking at?!" spat the Liberty's engineer at the tall, blond man who sat huddled in a corner in the small Maquis brig. 

A sly grin spread over his tired, handsome face. "Just the most beautiful woman in the Delta Quadrant," he drawled. He drew the blanket that was draped over his shoulders tighter around him. For over three months he had been dreaming about her and now was the first time he had seen her since he arrived by mistake on board the Liberty. 

B'Elanna Torres grumbled at his response and turned her back to the prisoner while she continued to pull apart the maintenance panel. 

"Come on, B'Elanna, you used to be able to talk to me. Don't you remember the time on the planet in the 'Terikoff Belt' when we went swimming?" 

B'Elanna's hands stilled. How could she forget, he had saved her life. When she dove and the rocks under the water had fallen and pinned her beneath them, he had been the one to pull her to safety. "I haven't forgotten, Paris," she said softly. "I also haven't forgotten that you left the Maquis when we were in trouble and never returned." When he had left to go get help and hadn't come back, her heart had broken. The sadness she felt surprised her at the time, she hadn't realized that she had come to care for Tom Paris so much. Today was the first time since he had pulled her from the tunnel on Ocampa, that she had spoken or even seen the pilot. She had relegated any engineering to be performed in the brig area to a subordinate, but today with the virus that had been coursing its way through the ship, she had been the only one available to make the repair. 

Minutes passed in silence but the tension was taut between the pair with myriad of unspoken feelings. 

"Well, if you're not going to talk to me, could you at least fix the environmental controls?" Paris asked. "One moment it's sweltering in here and the next it's freezing." 

"There's nothing wrong with the enviro. . ." she started to say and whipped her head around to look at the man in the cell. Hadn't his eyes been a brighter blue the last time they met, now they seemed to be almost gray, and his face hadn't been quite as pale. "You said, one moment it's hot and then cold?" 

Paris nodded, closed his eyes, and rested his weary head against the wall. 

She rose to her feet and put down her tools. "Computer, disengage security force field authorization Torres Theta Four." The engineer entered the cell, knelt down beside the pilot, and placed her hand on his forehead. Tom's eyes opened slightly upon feeling her tender touch. "You're burning up," she pronounced. "I think you may have the virus that's going around the ship. When was the last time the guard has been in to check on you?" 

"I don't remember...um...yesterday morning, I guess," he murmured. 

"Well, I'm going to go get the ship's medic, but let's get you back to bed before then. Come on, I'll help you." B'Elanna put her arm around the pilot's waist and helped to lift him onto the bunk. She settled him down and pulled his blanket up over him and started to tuck him in. 

"B'Elanna!! B'Elanna Torres!! Where are you?" the Captain roared walking into the brig area. Before she could reply, Chakotay saw that she was bending over Tom Paris as he lay on his bunk. "What are you doing to her, Paris?" he spat and as B'Elanna stepped back to speak to him, the Captain grabbed a hold of the front of the sick man's shirt with one hand and slugged him in the face with the other. 

"Stop it, Chakotay!! Stop it!!!" she pleaded. She grabbed the strong arm holding the pilot and tried to pull the older man away from the younger, but the Native American was almost as strong as the half-Klingon. Finally, after several more blows were delivered and the pilot was bloodied and unconscious, the Captain stopped his assault and faced his engineer. 

"Are you all right, B'Elanna? Did he try to hurt you?" 

"Damn it, Chakotay!," she growled. "He's sick with that accursed virus. I was just trying to get him back into bed before I went to look for the medic. And what do you think you're doing beating him up like that?" 

"I thought that he . . ." 

"Face it, Chakotay, you didn't think. You should know by now that I can take care of myself. You were just using it as an excuse to hit him. You've been wanting to do it for weeks." B'Elanna turned away from the Captain to look at the injured man. "Do you know that no one has checked on him since yesterday morning? By the looks of it," she said, motioning to the plate of cold crusted-over, half-eaten food, "it is probably the last time he ate. Look, I know you don't like him, I don't even know if I do, but that's no excuse for him not getting better treatment." 

Chakotay's rage diminished as he looked down at the defiant half- Klingon who stood beside him. "You're right B'Elanna," he admitted reluctantly and looked back at the prisoner. He winched internally at the damage he had inflicted. "Will you stay with him while I look for Thompson? I believe he is in the infirmary. I'll tell him to get down here as soon as possible. After I speak with him, I'll talk to Kinens about whose responsibility it is to keep an eye on our prisoner." 

"Thank you. I'll wait right here for Thompson to show up." 

The Captain nodded and left the two of them alone. 

***^^^***^^^**^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^*** 

"Report!" Janeway bellowed. The bridge was darkened except for occasionally sparks of light that originated from damaged consoles. 

Cavit hurried back to his seat and Tuvok punched at the controls at his station. "There are breaches on decks 4, 5, and 8," Tuvok reported. 

"The navigation controls are unresponsive, Captain," Stadi informed her from the helm. 

"Casualties?" Janeway asked. 

"Nineteen injured and two critically," Harry replied grimly. 

"Please see that Dr. Fitzgerald is provided with extra help. I'll be in my ready room if I'm needed. Mr. Cavit I'll leave the bridge in your capable hands." The Captain got up and walked to her ready room leaving behind a flurry of activity. 

As she had been accustomed to ever since they had entered the Delta Quadrant, the Captain replicated a cup of real coffee and sat in her chair at the head of the conference room table. It was the one little luxury she afforded herself. The coffee grew cold though as she pondered the situation that faced Voyager and her crew. They were still 70,000 light years away from home and if things progressed as they had so far, she seriously doubted if they would ever return to the Alpha Quadrant. The Kazon were confronting them at every opportunity and inflicting serious damage to Voyager. 

The reason for Voyager's current condition could be accredited to two factors: Joe Carey and Stadi. 

She didn't blame either though. Joe Carey was doing his best in Engineering having been left with the responsibility after the Chief of Engineering had been killed during the trip to the Delta Quadrant. Without a starbase where Voyager could dock for repairs he was somewhat at a loss. And though Stadi was a lovely pilot, she tended to fly by the book. The Betazoid surprisingly wasn't very creative and unfortunately the ship had suffered by her lack of ingenuity. How she missed Tom Paris, he probably could have taught her quite a bit about flying by the seat of your pants. It was a shame, she mused, that he died before he could be returned to Voyager. It was a shame that all the Maquis died regardless of what she thought of their motives. 

***^^^***^^^**^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^*** 

B'Elanna went back to Paris using the towel that lay beside the sink to mop up his bloodied face as best as she could. She covered the shivering man with his threadbare blanket again and waited for the medic to show up. 

"Co-cold," Tom muttered, his teeth chattering from the chill he felt. He drew his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his knees. 

B'Elanna removed her outer tunic and placed it over his body. "I know you're cold, Tom, help will be here soon." 

Hearing her voice, he broke through the barrier between unconsciousness and wakefulness. "B'Elanna?" 

"I'm here, Paris. Help's coming," she repeated. 

"I didn't." 

"What?" 

"I didn't...a-abandon...the M-Maquis," he stammered though his chattering teeth. 

"What do you mean, Paris? You never came back." 

Paris clutched her sleeve in a desperate desire for her to believe him and not abandon him before he had a chance to talk to her. "I...I couldn't, I..." 

The ship's medic chose that moment to arrive interrupting the pilot. "Well looks like another case of the virus. You ought to be thankful that you're immune, B'Elanna," Thompson stated as he strode into the cell. He loaded a hypospray and injected it into the prisoner's neck which caused Paris to immediately fall to sleep and loosen his grasp on the engineer's sleeve. "He should be better in a couple of days. Say, how'd he get all beaten up?" The medic's eyes opened wide and then narrowed. "Did he try something with you?" 

"No, it was nothing like that, just a misunderstanding," she said. Despite what Chakotay had done, she still felt obligated to him and didn't want to let the crew know that he had hit the prisoner. Thompson, taking in the tone of her voice, knew better than to ask anything more. "Look while you fix him up, I'm going back to my cabin and if anyone's looking for me, tell them that I'll be right back to fix those relays," she said pointing to the open maintenance cabinet. 

"No problem." 

B'Elanna returned about fifteen minutes later and found that the medic had done his job and left and that someone else had left behind a meal that would be stone cold before the Paris would have a chance to eat it. The engineer called for the force field to disengage and placed her spare blanket over the sick man. She recalled his last words. 'I couldn't' and wondered what he meant. 

"What do you mean 'you couldn't'?" she murmured and she brushed his hair away from his sweat slick forehead. B'Elanna tucked her blanket securely around Paris, left the cell, reactivated the force field, and resumed her work on the relays, but not at her usual break-neck pace. This time, she performed her work with a surefooted thoroughness, double checking every connection while triple checking on the prisoner in the cell. 

The next morning, B'Elanna returned to complete her repair to the relays. When she arrived, she could hear the sounds of several crewmembers urging each other to 'give him another' and 'do it again' from within Paris' cell. 

What she found were four crewmen savagely beating up on the still sick pilot who was making a half-hearted attempt to repel the blows and vicious kicks with his right arm, the other arm lay useless beside him, obviously broken. 

"What are you doing?!" B'Elanna roared which caused the four to stop and turn to look at her. 

"We're getting him back for what he did to you yesterday, Torres," Borten admitted rather proudly. 

Torres roughly pulled the four away from the pilot, two landed in the corridor and the other two landed one on top of the other next to the sink in the cell. "What do you mean, 'what he did to me yesterday'?" she growled. 

Finally, looking at the injured man, she could tell that Tom was in even worse shape than he was the day before. 

"Well Thompson said. . ." 

"Thompson doesn't know shit!" B'Elanna spat interrupting Liberty's junior helmsman. "Tom Paris never laid a finger on me yesterday, he was a complete gentlemen, something you four apparently don't know anything about. Now V'Dren," she said to the smallest man there, "you go get Thompson and tell him to come back with a stretcher for Paris, immediately." 

V'Dren looked at the irate half-Klingon and then to his friends. 

"Didn't you hear me, V'Dren?! Or do you want to be scrubbing plasma manifolds for me until we get back home?!" 

V'Dren needed no further prompting and sprinted out of the cell and down the corridor. 

Chapter Two 

B'Elanna finished the repair and hurried down to the Infirmary. She didn't know exactly why she needed to be there but she knew that she must. She had to see that Paris was okay. When B'Elanna arrived, the Captain was talking with Thompson, who was apparently being severely reprimanded for the gossip that he had spread yesterday. Hearing the engineer approach, Chakotay dismissed the medic and turned to her. 

"Is he okay, Chakotay?" she asked as she looked past him at the man who lay on the medical bed. 

"Thompson says that he will be, but that it will take time. We don't have the best medical equipment and supplies on this ship, not like Voyager or another Starfleet vessel would have. He's done his best to repair the cuts and bruises, but the break will take a while to heal. Paris will no doubt be sore for quite a while." Chakotay looked at his engineer with curiosity. Her features were etched with concern. "You're not feeling something for this prisoner are you, B'Elanna?" he asked. 

"Of...of course not, but he did save my life not once but twice. Once when I was swimming on that unnamed planet and the other time on the Ocampan homeworld, and if I remember correctly, he also saved your life." 

"And I don't think that I have to remind you that he's a murderer, a traitor, a mercenary, a womanizer, and a liar. He'll say anything just to get what he wants. Stay away from him, B'Elanna. He'll only bring you grief." 

"And do I have to remind you, again, that I can take care of myself?" 

"No, you don't, but don't say that I didn't warn you," Chakotay said. He left B'Elanna alone in the Infirmary with Paris and headed for the bridge. 

B'Elanna walked over to Tom and sat down on the chair that had been pulled up beside the bed. It was too bad that the medical supplies that the Maquis had weren't better. The dermal regenerators took care of sealing most of the wounds, but his handsome face was still swollen and black and blue. The broken arm had been regenerated to some degree and had been placed in a primitive looking cast. Looking down towards the end of the bed, she could see another cast had been placed on Paris' right ankle and foot. Providing the regeneration worked, it would apparently be a few days before he was back to normal. 

As she was looking at his foot, she hadn't noticed that she in turn was being scrutinized by the patient. "Sorry, B'Elanna, don't think I'm going to be up for a hoverball game any time soon," Paris said softly, still groggy from the drugs that Thompson had administered. 

The sound of his voice startled her and she refocused her gaze on the patient's pale face and his blue eyes. "No, I don't suppose you will. I'm sorry that this had to happen, Paris." 

"Don't be it's not . . ." his sentence was interrupted by a deep cough. He clutched his chest with his right arm until he stopped coughing, obviously he was in great pain. "Owww, gawd!!!" he cried when he was at last able to catch his breath. 

"Broken ribs?" B'Elanna asked concerned written all over her face. 

Tom nodded. "The last time I was this sore I was . . ." He stopped himself, she didn't need to know about that time. 

"When was the last time?" she asked. 

Tom shook his head sadly. "It's nothing, B'Elanna." 

The engineer wasn't convinced but she hadn't come down to the Infirmary to start an argument with an injured man. "Tom, I was wondering about what you said yesterday." 

Tom looked at her in confusion, not remembering what he had said that day. 

"You said that when you left the Maquis to go get help that you couldn't come back," she reminded him. What did you mean?" 

Tom explained how he had been nearly to Selka when he had been intercepted by the U.S.S. Bradbury, a Starfleet vessel. He had surreptitiously sent a distress call for the Maquis ship to Selka just before he was boarded and taken prisoner. 

"I didn't know, Paris, but didn't your father help you out after you were captured?" 

Tom shook his head. "No, he didn't and I wasn't about to ask him. That's where Janeway found me when she asked me to help her." 

"And you sold us out?" B'Elanna accused. 

"B'Elanna, I didn't want to but I had to get out of there. I had to. You have no idea . . ." 

"It was a Federation prison, Paris, almost a hotel," she said indignantly. "Just how difficult could it be to keep you mouth shut for a few months." 

"B'Elanna, just because it was a Federation prison doesn't mean that it was paradise. There are things that happen in there that you don't want to know about, and my sentence was not just a few months in was for ten years." 

"But early release . . ." 

Paris shook his head. "No early release, B'Elanna. If I hadn't got out of there then, I don't think I could have made it much longer. I had to take the opportunity presented. I tried not to lead them to any Maquis camps, but as usual I was unlucky and stumbled upon your ship. I never wanted the Federation to imprison the Maquis, and certainly not you." 

***^^^***^^^**^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^*** 

Later that day, Tom Paris was transferred back to his cell. Chakotay accompanied him back there to make sure that no one confronted the former pilot. While a number of Maquis sneered and glared at the man, none dared act with the Captain by his side. 

"Okay, Chakotay, I'm back safe, if not sound," Paris said. He sat heavily down on his bunk and propped his crutch against the wall. Resting his head against the back wall, he closed his eyes. A while later, Paris opened them to see that his guest had not left. 

"Sorry, Captain, I'd offer you a cup of coffee but I'm afraid the cupboard is bare." 

"Paris, you're not going to make this easy are you?" 

Tom laughed humorlessly. "Whatever you want to say just say it and get out of here so I can get to sleep. I have a big party planned for tomorrow. Everyone's invited. There's even a door prize. The lucky person will be given an opportunity of a lifetime--they can space me permanently. Hell, Chakotay, if you play your cards right, maybe I could fix it so you'd win." 

"Just be quiet for a moment so I can apologize." 

"The big man wants to apologize? Maybe Thompson should check out my hearing?" 

"Damn it, Paris, I'm sorry that I hit you and you got beaten up. I'm also sorry that you haven't been taken care of better, it won't happen again!" 

Tom looked at him silently for a while. "It's not your fault, Captain, you have enough to worry about. If it wasn't for B'Elanna, this bucket of bolts would have fallen apart years ago and..." He paused and tilted his head to one side before he continued. "If I were you, I'd head back to the bridge, your ship has just dropped out of warp and...I would say it is moving along at...impulse speed. 

"How can you..." 

"Captain!" a young member of the Maquis yelled from down the hall, "the Liberty has dropped to impulse speed." 

Chakotay's head snapped back to look at the I-told-you-so smirk on Paris' face before he left the cell to head to the bridge. 

Later that evening after tirelessly working to bring the warp engines back on line, Torres took the time to swing by the brig to check on Tom Paris, though she told V'Dren that she was only there to recalibrate the relays. 

B'Elanna passed by Paris' cell and could see him resting uncomfortably on the narrow bed. Obviously, with his left arm and right ankle in casts, he was finding it very difficult to settle down for the night. 

The engineer opened up the maintenance hatch as quietly as she could but the old rusted cover squeaked as it opened. 

Hearing the noise, Tom's eyes focused on the beautiful woman in the corridor. 

"B'Elanna?" 

"Yes, Paris, it's me, I'm sorry I woke you." 

"You didn't--I'm glad you came." 

"You are?" 

"I wanted to thank you for what you did for me today." 

B'Elanna sputtered, she didn't take compliments easily. "You...you don't have to thank me, Paris. You needed help. I was...was just glad I came along when I did." 

"I'm glad you did too. Do you think that you could come by tomorrow? I'd like to talk with you about something I've been thinking about." 

"Maybe," she said hesitantly, "but I'm very busy. I may not be able to make it until the day after tomorrow. Sure you don't want to talk now?" 

"No...not now," he replied drowsily with a yawn. "Thompson gave me something to help me sleep...and I'm...and...I'm..." Those were his last words he spoke before he finally drifted off to sleep. 

B'Elanna sat by the maintenance cabinet quietly contemplating the former Maquis/former 'Fleeter wondering what he wanted to speak to her about, wondering how she really felt about this man. At one time when he flew for the Maquis, she had been infatuated with him...but now? Now, maybe the best words to describe how she felt were intrigued and confused. She vowed that she would find that time to come by tomorrow, if nothing more than to quench her curiosity. 

***^^^***^^^**^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^*** 

Tomorrow came, but due to emergencies in Engineering, she couldn't get away until the evening. A very tired half-Klingon entered Paris' cell at 2100 hours. 

Paris was asleep when she arrived. He lay flat on his back with his blanket and hers covering only his waist and below. She ached to touch his chest hair, to run her fingers through the golden-red curls. *Stop it, B'Elanna, remember what Chakotay said murderer, traitor, womanizer obviously a man without honor.* 

/Lovely warm water cascaded over his nude body. It cleansed not only his skin but his soul. He shut his eyes as the water rinsed the shampoo from his head. Then suddenly, his eyes still shut, he could feel a pair of arms encircle his chest./ 

"Paris." she whispered loudly not wanting to shock him awake. "Paris." Tom sighed, his lips pulled up on the ends into a half- smile. *He's dreaming,* B'Elanna thought. 

/Feeling a woman's body pressed up against his own, he turned around so he could feel her breasts press up against his chest. He sighed, it felt so erotic, he almost hated to open his eyes to find out who this mystery woman was. Finally, curiosity overcame him. He wiped the water from his eyes, and opened them./ 

Reaching across his chest she grabbed him by his shoulders to gently shake him awake. "Tom Paris, wake up. Didn't you want to talk to me?" 

/She was just gorgeous, just like he imagined, B'Elanna Torres was a vision of exotic loveliness./ And he breathed her name. 

He groaned at being jostled. He wanted to sleep, to find out what would happen after the shower. It was one of the best dreams he had in a long time. He groaned and opened his eyes and then shut them again. B'Elanna? What was B'Elanna Torres doing in his room...wait I still must be... He tried to drift back to sleep again, to return to the shower. 

Did he just say what I think he did? Was...is...he dreaming of me? B'Elanna shook the thought out of her head and resumed to her task and shook the pilot again. "Tom Paris! Wake up!" 

Nope, I'm not dreaming, generally dreams don't yell at you. he concluded before he finally opened his vivid blue eyes. "I'm up...I'm up, just stop shaking me," Tom grumbled. 

"Good. Now what was it you wanted to speak to me about?" 

"Speak to you about?" he asked, his mind was still befuddled by the vision of his dream being with him in his cell. 

"You *were* the one who asked that I come down here. That you wanted to speak to me about something. Weren't you?" 

Tom focused his mind on their conversation of a few days ago. "Ah, yes. Yes, I did." 

"Well?" she challenged. 

Tom pulled himself up to a sitting position, favoring is left arm that was still healing from being broken. B'Elanna almost gasped looking at his naked torso but controlled herself. 

"I was wondering if there was anything I could do for you?" he asked. 

"Ah, do for...um...me?" Her mind flew to a myriad of chores most of which had erotic connotations, such as letting her rake her fingers through his chest hair or letting him massage her body. 

"Yeah, you know, maybe some engineering task that you or the other engineers don't have time to do. When I was...ah...in New Zealand...I did some work with electronics, besides other things." 

B'Elanna gazed at him for a long time not saying anything still imagining him with his hands upon her body. 

"Look Torres, I can understand if you don't want me to touch your precious engineering baubles but there must be something I can do? If I have to sit in here until we get home I'm going to be climbing the walls. Isn't there something you can think of? 

B'Elanna tore her eyes away from the handsome face, but was magnetically drawn back to him. "Let me think about it, Tom." 

"Fine," he snapped assuming that her comment was condescending. 

"I mean it, Paris. I *will* think about it." 

Tom nodded and B'Elanna left the cell and the pilot behind. 

***^^^***^^^**^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^*** 

The next afternoon, B'Elanna returned to the cell. In her arms she carried a crate that was overflowing with various electronic gizmos and gadgets. 

B'Elanna called for the forcefield to lower and she stepped into the cell. Tom watched her from his bunk as she lowered the crate to the floor. 

"Think these will keep you busy for while?" B'Elanna asked and placed a small tool kit on his lap. 

"I guess so," he replied. "What do you want me to do with them?" 

"Well, I'd like you to disassemble each device, scan each piece with this," she explained, passing him a tricorder, "and determine which items are salvageable, which can be repaired, and which are scrap. Do you think you can do that?" 

"Sure. Anything is better than sitting in here and counting rivet holes." 

B'Elanna smiled slightly. "Good. Now I don't know how much you'll get done with one arm in a cast but when you are done with this box, I have more I can bring down. And Paris, don't even think about using any of these parts to bust out of this cell." 

"Even if I did, Torres, where would I go?" he replied sadly. "I know that this cell is the safest place for me. The forcefield not only prevents me from leaving, it also prevents others from coming in." 

What little smile that remained on B'Elanna's face faded. It was only then that she realized how really alone Tom was on this ship. He had no one that he could call a friend. She then remembered that it was not that long ago, before she had joined the Maquis, that she too felt isolated from everyone around her. 

"I'm sorry, Tom," she softly said and placed her hand on the pilot's upper arm. 

"Don't be, Torres. I've brought it all on myself. If I wasn't here in the Delta Quadrant, I'd still be in prison." 

"But if you had been able to transport back to Voyager..." 

"If I had been able to transport back to Voyager, do you really think things would be much different?" he finished. 

"I don't know, Paris. But I would hope it would." 

"Listen, you had better get going, or the Captain will come looking for you," Tom replied with a smile of thanks. 

"You're right, but I'll be back in a couple of days to see how you're doing." 

"I'll look forward to it." 

"Who knows, by then if the regeneration treatments work, you might be rid of both casts." 

Tom nodded. 

Chapter Three 

True to her word, she returned to the cell in two days. When she arrived, Paris was sitting cross-legged with his back to the forcefield, and she noticed that both casts had been removed. He was singing a song softly to himself. B'Elanna paused to listen, it was a love song he was singing, she concluded. Something about him 'hungering for her touch'? It sounded old, but beautiful, she hated to interrupt him. When he stopped singing and started to hum, she spoke up. 

"That was lovely, Tom. I didn't know you could sing." She ordered the forcefield to lower and walked in. 

Tom blushed. "Ah...thanks." 

She joined him on the floor sitting cross-legged beside him. "You should do it more often, I like your voice." B'Elanna paused, she was surprised that she had said as much as she had to the pilot and opted to change the subject. "So how are you coming along?" 

Tom understood the reason behind the change of topic. "Pretty good, I'm almost done with this box of stuff. I've made three piles," he pointed each one out to her. "'Good', 'so-so,' and this one I lovingly entitle 'no way in hell'." 

B'Elanna laughed at his descriptions, it made Tom's heart quicken to hear that lovely sound coming from the half-Klingon. "And you should do that more often. You have a beautiful laugh," he said. 

"Tom...I..." 

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you. Forgive me." The last thing he wanted was for her to get upset. 

"There's nothing to forgive, Tom. I'm just not used to hearing... um..." 

"Compliments about you yourself and not about your engineering ability?" he correctly assumed. 

Her face reddened and she turned her head away from the man and started to get up from the floor, but he reached out and pulled her back down. "B'Elanna, please don't leave just yet. If you stay a little bit longer, I promise not to embarrass you." His blue eyes looked beseechingly at her. 

"All right, but I don't have long or they'll be expecting me back in Engineering." 

"Thanks." 

B'Elanna looked around the cell trying to think of something to talk to him about. "So it looks like you are all healed up?" 

Tom flexed his arm and his ankle. "They're a little stiff, but I'm on the road to recovery according to Thompson." 

"And have they been doing better feeding you?" she asked when she spotted the empty tray beside his bed. 

"Yeah, much. I won't lie to you it could be better, but it could be a whole lot worse. Do you remember the time we were trapped behind Cardassian lines?" Tom grinned recalling the memory, though at the time there was nothing funny about their situation, "It was the week before we found that little planet in the Terikoff belt." 

She smiled and nodded. "It was awful," she agreed, but also remembered how he had tried to keep her spirits up by telling her jokes. She remembered that even back then he had been able to get her to laugh. 

"And I used to think that Starfleet rations were bad, but they were haute cuisine compared to Cardie rations." 

She laughed again and he did too. They talked for over a half an hour before one of the young Maquis engineers came and asked her to report back to Engineering. 

B'Elanna reluctantly left. It had been a long time since she had enjoyed herself so much. Chakotay would have a fit, if he knew, she mused. 

***^^^***^^^**^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^*** 

Paris had now progressed to not only disassembling the units, but was now working with the 'so-so' pile and making repairs. It helped to make the days pass and keep his mind occupied. But best of all, it also afforded him an opportunity to speak with B'Elanna Torres. He found that he could talk to her for hours. He told her of his life before he had joined the Maquis, even about the accident at Caldik Prime and how his friends, Odile, Bruno, and Charlie had lost their lives. B'Elanna listened to all this, offering words of comfort and understanding. It wasn't long before she too, opened up to him and told him the story of her first trip to the Klingon homeworld as a child, of how her grandmother tried to fatten her up and how she had gotten sick afterwards. 

As she was leaving one day, Tom tenderly touched her cheek with the palm of his hand. "B'Elanna, I told you I wouldn't embarrass you again, but..." She just stared at the pilot... "But I've come to care about you, B'Elanna Torres." He bent his head down and brushed his lips to her mouth. To his surprise she didn't rebuff him, but he still felt guilty for taking advantage of her. "I'm sorry..." 

B'Elanna placed her fingers over his lips and shook her head. "If you're going to tell me you're sorry, it had better be because you took so long to work up the courage to kiss me," she smiled encouragingly, removed her fingers, kissed him on his lips and turned on her heel, leaving the bewildered pilot behind. 

***^^^***^^^**^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^*** 

Many days passed like this, B'Elanna looking for any excuse she could think of to go to the brig and Tom looking forward to her visits. They talked about everything, each laying their soul bare for the others perusal. In particular, they both looked forward to evening visits when the ship's interior lights had been dimmed. Then they would murmur words of love and hold each other until it was time for her to leave. Always, she brought items that needed to be repaired and left with items that had been fixed. They thought that they were covering their tracks until... 

***^^^***^^^**^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^*** 

Chakotay slowly walked around the chair in which his engineer sat, carefully observing her for signs of nervousness. Finally, he sat on the desk which was in front of her. 

"B'Elanna, it has come to my attention that you have been spending a lot of time with our prisoner lately." Chakotay waited for a response. 

Do you hate him so much you can't even say his name? she thought but said: "He's been helping me with an engineering chore. He sorts through electronic parts, decides which ones are salvageable and which ones aren't, and repairs the rest," she replied casually. Have we been so careless? How did we slip up? 

"And that necessitates you bringing him the parts after hours and helping him with them too? I've been told that you spend hours at a time with Paris," the Captain fired back. 

"And so what if I do? When did *you* become my guardian?" B'Elanna snapped. 

Chakotay got down from his perch on the desk and paced back and forth with his arms folded in front of him. He had never known B'Elanna to take such a tone of voice with him before. "B'Elanna, I just want you to be careful. Did you forget that he left us injured and floating in space, when he was suppose to bring back help?" 

"But that's not what happened," B'Elanna said trying to defend the pilot. 

"That's what *he* told you, B'Elanna. He'd lie to you just as easy as breathing." 

"Like I said Chakotay, I can take care of myself," B'Elanna said and rose from her chair. 

"See that you do," the Captain warned. 

Chapter Four 

That night after hours, B'Elanna slipped into Tom's cell. He had retired for the night and was blissfully sleeping on his bunk. She approached him, knelt down beside him and placed her hand over his mouth. His eyes flew open wide. 

"Sssh, Tom," she warned. "It's only me. Move over." 

Tom scooted over on the bed to the far side, but instead of sitting on the edge of the bed like he had anticipated, B'Elanna lifted up the blanket and crawled in beside him. She was thrilled to find out that he slept in the nude. 

"B'Elanna? What are you doing?" Tom asked, seeing his dream come true made him question the reality of it all. 

"I'm keeping you warm?" she ventured. 

"I was getting a little cold," the pilot admitted and he pulled her close to him and kissed her on her mouth. Parting her full lips with his tongue he tasted her sweetness. She moaned and none too softly. 

"B'Elanna," Tom whispered. "We have to be quiet or the guard will hear us." 

"I've fixed that, by now he should be sound asleep. I brought him a--let's say--a special cup of coffee." 

"Looks like you thought of everything." 

"I try too." B'Elanna reached for the edge of her tunic and started to pull it over her head. 

Tom's hands stopped her from removing her top. "B'Elanna, are you sure you want to do this?" 

"I don't think I've ever been more sure about anything in my life, Tom." 

"That's wonderful, but why now?" 

"Chakotay knows that we've been seeing each other and he's not happy about it. Actually he was furious," B'Elanna admitted. "It was then I realized that it didn't matter what he told me about you or what he felt. All that mattered to me was you. I love you, Tom Paris. I came tonight to claim you as my mate...if you'll let me." 

Tom didn't hesitate for a second before replying. "Of course..." 

"Wait, maybe you don't understand. When Klingons mate..." 

"They mate for life. I know, B'Elanna. I understand," he said softly and sincerely. And he pulled her into a passionate embrace. "I can't think of anyone I'd rather have as my life mate. My, tIqwIj, but you. You have filled a place in my heart that has been empty for as long as I can remember." 

B'Elanna kissed him on the mouth and resumed pulling off her tunic. This time Tom helped her. After they had thrown the tunic on the floor, her slacks and undergarments soon followed. Tom kissed her lips, her forehead, and her neck and she did the same. Each reveling in the closeness, the feeling of flesh on flesh, that had been denied to them over the past weeks. 

Tom was nuzzling her throat with B'Elanna laying on top of his body, his swollen manhood pressing against her belly, when B'Elanna whispered in his ear. "Are you ready, Tom? Are you ready to take the oath?" 

"Yes, I'm ready. I've been ready for a long time." 

As was customary, B'Elanna made the first move and sunk her teeth into his cheek, tasted his blood, and spoke the ritualistic words. He followed her and to her surprise spoke his reply in near flawless Klingon. 

"You're mine, Tom Paris, for this life and beyond." 

"And you, B'Elanna Torres, are *my* mate for this life and beyond." 

He then rolled her over and accentuated his claim by gently but firmly thrusting up into her, he knew that she was more than prepared to receive his gift. They rode each other for what seemed like hours with only tender caressing and loving words separating each passionate union until finally, early in the morning, B'Elanna pulled away from her husband. 

"I've got to go, Tom. We can't risk being found out...not yet." 

"I know, my love. For now, it is our secret." 

She bent down and kissed him for one last time before she left. "I've left you a dermal regenerator to heal the bite, I've already used it on me. We can't risk anyone asking about them." 

"That's wise." 

"I'll tell Chakotay when the time is right, but not before. Until then, only we will know that we are committed to each other, mates for life." 

"For this life and beyond," he confirmed. "I love you 'Lanna." 

"And I you, my husband." 

And she left. 

***^^^***^^^**^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^*** 

"Captain." Tuvok exclaimed from the security station. "I'm picking up a distinctive Alpha Quadrant signature." 

Janeway pivoted around her in seat to face the stoic Vulcan. "Explain." 

"I'm picking up a signature of a ship that had to have been created in the Alpha Quadrant. There is no mistake with its signature." 

Cavit left the Captain's side and joined Tuvok. "Is it possible that it is a spacial anomaly?" he asked. 

"Highly unlikely," the Security Chief replied. 

Before they could speculate further about the strange occurrence, Harry Kim piped up from the ops station. "Captain, I'm picking up a group of Kazon warships heading in our direction," he warned. "By my estimates, there are seven ships." 

"Battle stations! Red alert!" Janeway roared. The lights on the ship dimmed, a klaxon sounded, and red lights flashed. Cavit returned to his post and joined the Captain. Lt. Stadi strode onto the bridge from the turbolift and quickly relieved the junior pilot that had been at the conn. Janeway prayed that they would survive another battle with these alien warriors. 

***^^^***^^^**^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^*** 

"Captain," Liberty's science officer piped up. "If I'm not mistaken, Voyager is just ahead of us and several Kazon vessels are headed in their direction." 

"Voyager? Show me," Chakotay ordered. The view screen flickered and at maximum magnification the bridge crew could make out seven Kazon warships heading towards Voyager. Apparently, the smaller Maquis vessel had been unnoticed. "So they did survive the array's explosion." The Captain turned to one of the younger members of the Maquis. "Get Torres up here on the double," he ordered. 

"Aye, aye, sir!" 

Then he turned to the helmsman. "Sanchez, take us in nice and easy--shields up. I don't want the Kazon to see us until the last possible moment." 

"We're going to help them?" Sanchez asked, questioning Chakotay's order. "But they're Starfleet?" 

"And they are our only link to the Alpha Quadrant. I'm sure that if the roles were reversed, Captain Janeway would assist us. Now follow your orders!" 

"Yes, sir!" 

In the distance, the Maquis could see the seven Kazon ships take attack positions around the Starfleet vessel. While, for the time being, Voyager's forcefields were holding, Chakotay didn't expect it would be long before they were totally incapacitated, leaving the big ship defenseless. 

So intent were the Kazon on their attack, it wasn't until the Liberty was upon their ships and firing that they noticed the Maquis vessel. 

Captain Janeway was thrown from her seat by the last volley of fire. "Report!" she roared as she pulled herself back into her seat. 

"Shields are at 21% and weakening," Tuvok informed her. "Decks 5 through 7 have received serious damage. The Kazon appear to be assembling for another attack." 

"There are thirty-three people injured and eight of those critically," Harry announced grimly. Harry looked down at his console again. 

"Mr. Carey, status!" 

"We are running on impulse, Captain. It'll be some time before I can get the warp core up and working again. We have suffered serious damage," Joe Carey grimly reported. 

Janeway shook her head. Wasn't there any good news? 

"Captain, that ship with the Alpha Quadrant signature is getting closer," said Ensign Kim. He looked up at Janeway and Cavit, "Captain, it's the Liberty." 

"The Liberty?" she questioned. "I thought the ship was destroyed?" Cavit nodded. 

"All of us did, Captain," Tuvok reported. "Apparently, we were mistaken." 

"Can we hail them, Ensign?" 

"Not yet, there has been too much damage to the communications systems." 

Then, one of the Kazon ships finally did notice the Liberty and took off in pursuit. The Maquis ship zigged and zagged trying desperately to avoid being hit. Finally though, another Kazon ship joined the chase and the Liberty ended up being hit soundly near the bridge causing the pilot and weapons officer to sustain serious injury. Chakotay quickly took over at the weapons station and fired a couple of shots, warding off the Kazon ships and sending them back to the main fight. 

"Javis, report to the bridge," the Maquis Captain bellowed. 

"Javis has been injured," Crimmins, a young Maquis, reported to him from over his left shoulder. 

"Damn, where am I going to find another pilot." 

B'Elanna seized the moment. "Chakotay, we have an excellent pilot sitting in our brig." 

The Native American nodded. His hands were tied, he had no choice. "Crimmins, escort Paris to the bridge." 

A bewildered Crimmins left the bridge to retrieve the prisoner. 

Paris was quickly brought to the bridge. He couldn't imagine why his presence had been requested. Upon entering the bridge his eyes sought out B'Elanna, but neither betrayed the feelings that they felt for each other. 

"Paris, how do you feel about flying the ship?" Chakotay barked. 

"Flying?" 

"Both of my pilots and my weapons officer are too injured to perform their duties. If you want to survive. If you want *everyone* to survive, we need you to pilot the Liberty." 

Paris didn't miss the underlying meaning of Chakotay's words and quickly slid into the seat. There before him on the viewscreen was Voyager, a sight that he thought he would never see again. 

"Lay in a course towards Voyager. We are going to see that the Kazon regret messing with anyone from the Alpha Quadrant," the Maquis Captain ordered. 

"Aye, sir," Paris responded automatically. Punching several buttons and grabbing the controls he steered them towards the Starfleet ship. 

With Paris' expert piloting skills, the Liberty dipped and tumbled around the Kazon ships while Chakotay deftly fired the Liberty's phasers. Before long, the Kazon were in retreat, and Voyager was saved. 

"Captain Janeway to Liberty." 

"Liberty here," Chakotay responded promptly. 

The bridge of the Maquis ship appeared on Voyager's main view screen. From Voyager's bridge, not only was Chakotay visible but B'Elanna Torres and Tom Paris, as well. 

"I didn't expect to see you again, Captain," Janeway said. "Our instruments showed that the Liberty and all aboard were destroyed when the Caretaker's array exploded." 

"There was a lot of radiation expended during that incident," Chakotay offered as a way of an explanation. 

"It must have interfered with the readings. But it is good to see you again, and you too Mr. Paris." 

She could hear mumbling throughout the bridge and even heard Cavit say just under his breath: "once a traitor always a traitor." 

"Chakotay, I'd like to beam you, Ms. Torres, and Mr. Paris over to the Voyager to discuss our present situation." 

Clearly Chakotay did not like the idea, but he knew that it was the only logical choice, he nodded, and before he could talk to either Paris or Torres all three were whisked away to the bridge of Voyager. 

Chapter Five 

Janeway escorted the three guests to her ready room and Cavit and Tuvok joined them as well. 

"Captain," Janeway said addressing the Indian. "We are in your debt. I can't thank you enough for coming to our aid." 

Chakotay cleared his throat before responding. "I would like to think that you would have done the same if the roles had been reversed." 

"Of course. It seems, as Tuvok would say, logical for the two ships to form an alliance." 

"Agreed." 

"I would suggest that we travel together and look out for each other on the trip home. Does that sound reasonable?" 

Chakotay nodded his head. 

"Mr. Paris, it is good to have you back." B'Elanna's dark eyes flew to the blue eyes of her husband's. "So can I assume that you are now a member of the Maquis?" 

Chakotay was the one to speak up. "No, Captain. He was just helping us out in a pinch, both of my pilots were injured in the battle." 

"I see. So what has Mr. Paris been doing on the Liberty since we last saw him?" 

Paris jumped in this time. "Actually, they have treated me very well, Captain. A room of my own and three meals a day," he replied with a straight face. He figured that it would do no one any good for Janeway to find out that he had been confined to a cell during his most recent time on the Liberty. Chakotay and B'Elanna schooled their features and didn't let on that it had been any different on the Maquis ship. 

"Well, I'm glad you're back with us. After witnessing your flying. I think I have the perfect job for you--training our pilots. From the looks of things, they could learn a lot." 

Janeway rose from her seat, indicating that the meeting was over. 

"But..." Tom started to say, throwing a desperate glance in B'Elanna's direction, which did not go unnoticed by Chakotay. He for one would be glad to see Tom leave his ship and get as far away from B'Elanna as possible. 

"It's all been taken care of, Tom," she nodded to Tuvok. "Mr. Tuvok will show you to your new quarters. We can beam over anything you need from the Liberty later." Janeway pushed him in the direction of the Vulcan. "We'll talk later, Captain, and iron out anything else." 

"Very good, Captain Janeway." 

"Transporter Room, beam Captain Chakotay and Ms. Torres back to the Liberty," Janeway commanded and in an instant the two Maquis were sent back to their ship. 

Tom followed Tuvok to his assigned quarters. Tom's facial expression mirrored the expressionless Vulcan's. Reaching the door to his cabin. Tuvok keyed it open, gave Tom the security clearance necessary for him to activate it himself, and left him behind in the empty cabin telling him that as soon as his belongings were beamed on board Voyager, he would send them down. 

Tom mused that it shouldn't take long to throw his extra set of clothes and the few toiletries he possessed into a bag. So not having anything else to do, he sat down on his bed and waited. 

****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^**** 

As soon as B'Elanna and Chakotay beamed back to the Liberty. Chakotay ordered one of his crew to retrieve Paris' things from the brig. B'Elanna interrupted him though and said that she would take care of it. By her tone of voice, Chakotay knew better than to argue with the half-Klingon. 

B'Elanna stormed into the brig and into the cell that Tom had occupied. She was tempted to dissolve into human tears but the Klingon side stopped her and reminded her that there where things to be done before she could do that. Later, that evening, when she was alone she'd cry--but not now. She folded up her husband's spare set of clothes and lay beside his shaving kit and hair comb. There wasn't much to account for Tom's presence on the ship for the past few months. She placed the things in a bag that the guard provided and headed back to her cabin so she could add a few things before it was beamed over. 

****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^**** 

Tom was still sitting on the bed when the annunicator bell chimed. 

"Yes?" 

"I'm Ensign Charez, I've come with your things. They were just beamed over," the young red-headed man explained on the other side of the door. 

"Come in," Tom said and the ensign came in and placed the bag on the dining table and left. It took him awhile before he got up to take care of his things. He took out his clothes and placed them in a dresser drawer and then reached in the bag to bring out his shaving kit. Instead of a shaving kit, he found a holo- picture. Activating it, he saw to his delight an image of B'Elanna--his B'Elanna. She was dressed in her typical Maquis clothes, but she had taken the picture while she lay reclined on her bed in her cabin. To others, the pose may have seemed unremarkable, but to her husband it was erotic. The picture had captured the dark beauty of her eyes, the crinkle of her nose, and the shine of her hair. Bless her, he thought, to have taken the time to do this for me. He only wished that he had the opportunity to have left one for her. 

He placed the picture on the table beside his bed so it would be the first thing he saw in the morning and the last thing he'd look at before he fell to sleep at night. Returning to his bag, he reached back in and withdrew his hair comb. That was it, he thought. It didn't take too long to take care of and he picked up the bag. He folded up the bag when he heard crinkling of paper inside. Opening the bag again, he peered inside and withdrew a single sheet of white paper, it was a letter from B'Elanna. It read: 

"Tom, fate is cruel mistress. It plays with us like puppets on a string--pulling us in directions that we don't want to take. Making us dance apart when all we want to do is to cling to each other and not let go. Know this my husband, I love you. I always will. At night, I will dream of you and during the day you will always be in my thoughts. I said that fate is cruel, and that is true, but I also believe that some things are fated to be, and sometimes, ultimately, things work out for the best. 

Look for me, husband, before you go to bed each night, at 2300 hours. I'll be the shadow you see in my cabin window. I'll be the Maquis woman whose heart you possess. And you, my love, will be the object of my desire and my love. Think of me, until we meet again. 

Love, B'Elanna." 

"I love you too, my wife," Tom whispered reverently. He read the letter again and for a third time before he carefully folded it and placed it under her picture. Then noticing the time, he walked over to his window and pressed his face against the transparent aluminum. It was cold to the touch. There to his left and below flew the Liberty in Voyager's shadow. He strained his eyes trying to make out the windows along the ship's starboard side, and he counted them. Tom knew that B'Elanna was assigned to Cabin 312--third level, twelfth room. There, if he was not mistaken, was her cabin and it seemed that there was a shape in the window. Maybe it was B'Elanna. No, there was no maybe, it was B'Elanna. And even if it wasn't, he was going to convince himself that it was her, wishing him goodnight, telling him that she loved him. His fingers splayed across the window wishing that they were touching her instead and he whispered, "Goodnight my love. We'll be together soon. I promise." 

[Click here to go to Part 2][1]

   [1]: http://unix.worldpath.net/~kelhapam/liberty2.htm



	2. Last Half

**Part 2**

Chapter Six 

BREEP--BREEP 

"Who is it?" Tom asked. He had just gotten up after spending a sleepless night in bed and had been looking at the holopicture again. Putting B'Elanna's picture back down on the nightstand, he waited for his guest to come in. 

"Tom!" Harry Kim said as he came into the cell. "How are you doing? Boy, I missed you!" 

Tom walked over to the amiable, younger man and slapped him on the shoulder. "I missed you too. So what happened while I've been gone?" 

"This and that, I'll fill you in later. Actually, the Captain asked me to come by this morning and accompany you to her ready room." 

"I'm not even here a full day and I'm in trouble already?" Tom grinned. 

"No, I think she wants to talk to you about the assignment she has in mind for you," Harry admitted. 

Tom and Harry left the cabin en route to the Captain's ready room. All along the way, Tom noticed that crewmembers were pointing at him and some even looked at him with disgust. Harry noticed it too and was uncomfortable for his friend. 

"They don't believe that you didn't go back to being a Maquis," Harry explained. 

"I could tell. But I didn't, Harry, all I did was fly that last mission. I didn't do anything else. Hell, I couldn't even..." And he stopped talking when he realized what he almost revealed to his friend. 

"You couldn't even what?" Harry asked. 

"Just let's say that even if I had wanted to, they wouldn't have let me." 

Soon the pair were standing before Captain Janeway. 

"Welcome, gentlemen, sit down." 

Tom and Harry each took a seat and Janeway sat at the head of the table. 

"Mr. Paris, I've given your situation on Voyager a great deal of thought. I was impressed by your piloting skills the other day." 

"Thank you, Captain." 

"And I was wondering if you would be interested in training my pilots." 

Tom's heart sunk for a moment, he was hoping that she was going to let him actually pilot Voyager, but beggars couldn't be choosers. "I'm listening." 

"Mr. Kim is willing to help you augment and adapt the current holodeck pilot training program to your specifications." 

"Sounds interesting and I'm willing, Captain, but are the pilots?" 

"They have no choice, they will be ordered to take the classes. It's either that or Voyager will never make it home in one piece. Any questions?" She received no response from the other two. "Dismissed." 

Harry and Tom worked for almost a week on the program--testing it, tweaking it, and retesting it--before it was ready to be used. Every night, Tom stood by his window in his quarters searching for his B'Elanna. Some nights, the Liberty flew close enough to Voyager for him to see the shadow in the window, but more often than not he had to pretend that he saw her. 

The first two pilots assigned for their lessons waited outside of holodeck one, both reluctant to enter. 

"What does *he* think he can show *us*," Ensign Baythart grumbled to Lt. Stadi. 

"He's suppose to be very good," Stadi reminded him. "You should have seen the way he flew the Liberty last week." 

"But that's not Voyager, he's never even sat at the real controls, just the holographic simulation," Baythart said defending himself. 

"Well, that's beside the point. The Captain has ordered us to report for these flight lessons, and it's time, let's go in." 

Stadi and Baythart passed through the holodeck arch and found themselves on the holographic bridge of Voyager with Paris waiting for them in what would normally be Cavit's seat. 

"Welcome, Lieutenant, Ensign, I'm glad you could..." 

"Stuff it, Paris," Baythart spat. "What do you think you can possibly show us?" 

Paris knew that this wasn't going to be easy but he had hoped that the pilots would act like professionals and keep their feelings about him to themselves. 

"Well then Baythart, why don't you take a seat at the conn and give the first test a go. Maybe you can show me a few things? Computer activate program Paris Omega Epsilon random pattern." 

Baythart smugly took the seat at the helm and called for the program to begin. It started out smoothly and he was able to avoid the asteroid field that was part of the simulation. He was confident that he would make it through the test with flying colors, but then the asteroids multiplied and were starting to come at him at an alarming rate. Finally, he wasn't able to avoid a large asteroid and 'Voyager' crashed into the surface. 

"You just destroyed Voyager," Tom stated simply. 

"Let me try," Stadi suggested. Tom nodded and Stadi took Baythart's place at the helm. Before long though, she had crashed into a similar asteroid and 'Voyager' had suffered the same fate. 

"This is impossible," the Lieutenant complained. 

Tom's only response was to raise his eyebrows at the pair. 

"You think you could do better?" Stadi asked. 

"That, I'd have to see," challenged Baythart. 

Tom rose calmly from his seat and exchanged places with the Betazoid. He called for the computer to reactivate the program. Stadi and Baythart confidently took their places behind him and waited for him to meet the same fate. He started out just like Baythart and Stadi had, easily flying around the few asteroids that were part of the beginning of the program. By the time the number of asteroids increased, Tom was taking 'Voyager' on a wild ride, somersaulting and spiraling around the rocks, finally avoiding all the asteroids until he reached empty space again. 

Tom's pupils released their death grip on the hand railing with a sigh. "How did you do that?" Baythart and Stadi asked simultaneously. 

"What? *You* can't do that?" Tom asked innocently. 

"Well, um...no." Baythart swallowed his pride. "Do you think you could...um...teach me?" 

Tom smiled an easy smile. "I'd be happy to. And you Stadi?" 

The Betazoid nodded in concurrence. 

It wasn't long before Baythart, Stadi, Hamilton, Stewart, and a couple of others, who could sit at the helm in case of an emergency, were all having regularly scheduled flight lessons with Tom Paris. Tom enjoyed the lessons, it helped keep his mind busy when all he wanted to do was to think about his wife on the Liberty. 

His pupils had all improved a great deal, but all were willing to admit that no matter how many lessons Tom taught and no matter how patient he was, none could be a good as he. Best of all, they found that Tom Paris was not the man that they had been told he was. He was kind, quick with a joke, and was generous to a fault, nothing like the traitorous murderer they had anticipated. They found that Tom Paris was not just their instructor, he was also their friend. 

****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^**** 

"It can't be right," B'Elanna said as she ran the test again and yet again. 

But the answer was always the same. B'Elanna Torres, engineer extraordinaire, was pregnant. She knew she hadn't been feeling well for the last week or two but had written it off to stress. Finally, though, she went to the infirmary and finding Thompson not there, scanned herself with the medical tricorder. She couldn't believe that her only night with Tom would have led to her getting pregnant. She had always heard that due to her combined Klingon and Human body chemistry that it would be very difficult, if not tantamount to impossible. But here she was pregnant. 

She went back to her cabin. It was almost time for her to make her appearance in her window, in hopes that Tom would see her. She picked up the sheets that she had taken from the brig the day that she had packed his belongings. She could still smell his scent on them, it comforted her. Then her hand strayed to her abdomen. A baby. I'm going to have a baby. A child Tom and I created out of love. Our baby, she thought and a warm smile washed over her face. If only Tom could know. If only I could tell someone. But, B'Elanna knew that if Chakotay or any of the other Maquis crew found out about the baby that it might only make things worse for her and Tom. It might negate any chance for the two of them to be together. So she vowed to keep her silence for as long as she could. 

The appointed time came, 2300 hours, and she stood at the window to her cabin. Over the weeks, she had correctly assumed that the ninth cabin from the stern of the ship on deck 13 was Tom's cabin. For there, if they were flying close enough to Voyager, she generally could see what she assumed was him at that window. "Tom, my love, I'm carrying your child--our child," she said aloud to the shadow on Voyager. "And I...I love you." 

***^^^***^^^**^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^*** 

Chakotay looked worriedly at his engineer as he prepared to contact Kathryn Janeway. B'Elanna was sitting at her bridge station and she appeared rather pale. Had her separation from Paris affected her so greatly? Was her love for the mercenary so strong that it caused her to miss him to such an extent that she was becoming ill? He would have to ask her later if she had taken the time to go to the infirmary. But now he had Maquis business to take care of. 

"Chakotay to Captain Janeway." 

Janeway, seated in the command chair on the bridge, replied. "Janeway here, Captain." 

"Captain Janeway, we are experiencing problems..." 

And the conversation went on, but Tom Paris, who was on the bridge observing Baythart in action, had the first sight of his wife in weeks. He was totally focused on the half-Klingon and she on him. He could see the yearning in her eyes and her wan complexion. Tom's heart reached out to her and it ached. 

From B'Elanna's viewpoint she could see Tom's blue eyes looking at her. She missed him so much. She wanted to tell her husband that she was carrying their child, to share with him her happiness and pride at the expression of their love. 

Too soon the conversation was concluded and the viewscreen again displayed the numerous stars against the black vacuum of the Delta Quadrant. At that time, Tom didn't feel that even space could be as empty as his heart. How he longed to hold B'Elanna in his arms again, to talk to her and tell her that he loved her. 

He finally awakened to the fact that he was on Voyager's bridge, and the Captain was talking to her First Officer. 

"...I just don't feel that I can trust them, Commander," Janeway was saying. 

"Why not?" Paris interrupted. 

"Excuse me?" The Captain was not happy that her conversation with Cavit had been interrupted. 

"Sorry, Captain. But why don't you think you can trust them? They are our only contact to the Alpha Quadrant here. If we can't trust them, who can we trust?" 

The Captain was boiling mad at having her conversation on the bridge interrupted by the former convict. "Mr. Paris, my ready room! Now!" 

Tom followed the Captain into the ready room. He took the seat she indicated him to use. "Mr. Paris, I would appreciate if you have a comment to make that you talk to me personally and not broadcast it on the bridge, or keep it to yourself. Now, if you have something to say. Say it." 

Tom looked into her steely gaze and he knew that he had to seize the opportunity for seldom was it offered a second time around. "It's just that, I think the Maquis and the Starfleet crews should be able to get along. After all, if we are going to fly along side each other for seventy years, we should also be able to work together as well. For instance, B'Elanna Torres on the Liberty is the best engineer I have ever seen. She is very resourceful. Nothing is wasted on the Liberty. If it can be salvaged and reused then that is what is done. Now, Joe Carey is a good engineer too, but he doesn't know seat-of-your pants engineering--making do with the material you have-- this is a talent that Torres has mastered. The Liberty's engineer could really teach him a lot." Tom took a deep breath before he continued. "Captain, what I'm trying to say is that someone has to make the first move. Why not you?" 

Captain Janeway silently sat at the head of the table and looked at Voyager's flight instructor. "What do you suggest?" 

Well, it was now or never. "How about an exchange of crewmembers. Some Maquis could come over to work with the people on Voyager and vice-a-versa?" 

"Hmmmmm." The Captain steepled her fingers in front of her face resting her chin on her thumbs. 

"If each side can see that the other can contribute and benefit the other ship, then I think it would help with relations." 

"Sounds like a plan, but do you think Chakotay would go for it?" 

"Maybe, just don't tell him that it was my idea. We still don't get along very well." 

"I'll consider your advice, and thank you. You certainly call a spade a spade, Mr. Paris." 

"I try." 

"Dismissed." 

Paris exited the ready room and again assumed his position behind Baythart, but he didn't miss the smirks that some of the bridge crew gave him, in particular Cavit. Reaching over to help Baythart perform a maneuver, Baythart whispered to him. "Don't worry about them, Tom. If they took the time to get to know you, their opinions would change." 

Chapter Seven 

Some of the people on the ship, other than the pilots, were starting to tolerate him--in particular the ladies. 

Tom had tried to get along with everyone and had even received permission from the Captain to install a holoprogram based on a bar in Marseilles, France, that he used to frequent called Sandrines. It possessed an old world charm that few could resist. The bar had quickly become a favorite of the crew, they would congregate there in the evenings to talk over a synthenol or to play a game of pool. Even some of the ones that still didn't like him had become regular visitors. 

That evening after his talk with the Captain, Tom walked into Sandrines and, noticing Harry sitting by himself, went over to join him. They talked about the incident on the bridge that day, and Tom told his friend about his suggestion to the Captain. Harry, eager to get along with everyone, was quick to jump on Tom's bandwagon. 

"That's a wonderful idea," Harry said with a grin. "It would be nice if we all could get along." 

"I agree, but let's keep this between ourselves for now. If the crew found out that the idea came from me, then they might not be that receptive." 

Harry could see the wisdom behind that statement. "Agreed." 

"Hey, Tommy," Megan Delaney called in a sing-song fashion from the bar. "Why don't you come over and join us." Megan, her sister Jenny and a couple other of Voyager's most famous flirts all had their eyes focused on the tall, blond flight instructor. 

Normally Tom was able to ward off the women with a joke, but he wasn't in the mood after seeing B'Elanna on the viewscreen that afternoon. 

Tom raised his hands. "Just leave me alone, Megan," he said. 

Megan wasn't about to take 'no' for an answer and approached the pair. "Gee, don't tell me you'd prefer the company of men to the ladies," she teased. 

"I mean it, Megan, I'm not in the mood, just leave me alone." 

But Megan flung her hair with one sweep of her head over her shoulder and ran her fingers though Tom's hair. "Come on, Tommy. Join us." 

Tom pulled her hands away from him and pushed her gently away. "I told you to please leave me alone." 

The redhead finally took the hint, her ego momentarily deflated, and headed back to the bar and her friends mumbling to herself. 

Harry turned a worried eye to his friend. "Tom, what's wrong? You usually don't speak to them like that. Generally, you are a lot more patient." 

Downing the last of the synthenol, Tom slammed the glass down on the table. "You wouldn't understand, Harry." With that, Paris left the bar leaving behind four frustrated females and one bewildered Harry Kim. Harry thought about that statement for a moment before he too drained his glass and followed Tom Paris out of the bar. 

Tom's long legs quickly left Kim behind in their wake. Harry walked faster, almost at a trot, trying to catch up to the tall man. He finally achieved his goal just as Paris reached the door to his cabin. 

"Tom...wait up. What's...wrong?" Harry managed to say in between trying to catch his breath. 

"Harry..." 

"I want to help if I can, Tom. And if I can't help, at least talk to me." 

Tom knew that he had to talk to someone or go insane and nodded. Trying to keep everything inside and bottled up was driving him nearly crazy. "All right. Come in." 

Harry followed his friend through the door and inside the cabin. Tom suggested that he sit down at the dining room table and replicated them both a cup of coffee before he joined his friend. 

The ensign could see the disturbed look on his friend's face. "What is it, Tom?" 

Paris took a sip of his coffee and placed the cup back down on the table. He stared into the cup watching the liquid become still. "I fell in love, Harry, when I was on the Liberty." 

"You? You fell in love?" 

Tom's head snapped up and looked at his friend with absolute seriousness. "What's the matter, don't you think I'm capable of loving someone?" 

"It's not like that, it's just that...I don't know...I guess I never thought of you as being in love. Who is she?" 

"She's Liberty's Chief Engineer, B'Elanna Torres." Tom's attention returned to his coffee and he ran his fingertips around the edge of the cup. 

"B'Elanna Torres, the half-Klingon?" Harry recalled his time in the Ocampan hospital with her. "So that's why you looked like you did when you were on the bridge today, when the communique came through from the Maquis." 

"I miss her Harry. She's my other half." Tom got up from the table and retrieved the holopicture of B'Elanna by his bed and passed it to him. 

Harry activated it and was impressed, as he had been on the Ocampan homeworld, with B'Elanna's exotic beauty. "Your other half?" 

Tom looked at Kim again and then down at the holopicture. "She's my wife. We took the Klingon blood oath." 

Harry was shocked by his friend's confession. "Married? Then why aren't you together. Why don't you go see the Captain and tell..." 

"I can't!" Tom said loudly interrupting his friend. "We can't tell anyone. No one on the Liberty knows, if they did then they could make it very difficult for her, and I won't have that. If Chakotay finds out that B'Elanna married me while I was in the Liberty's brig then..." 

"Why were you in the brig?" Harry asked in amazement. 

Tom sat back down at the table. "It's a long story..." 

And it was a long night. Tom related to Harry his experience with being back on the Liberty of how he was placed in the brig when he had been accidently beamed aboard. He told his friend how he had fallen in love with B'Elanna, only stopping his conversation to take his place by the window as he had every night. 

After Kim left, Tom returned the holopicture to its place, undressed, and crawled into bed. Thinking of his wife and her face on the viewscreen that day, he finally fell to sleep. 

***^^^***^^^**^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^*** 

Janeway acted on Tom's suggestion and met with Chakotay. It was a long afternoon, but eventually they worked out an arrangement where an exchange of personnel and knowledge would take place between the two vessels. Janeway found that Chakotay was much easier to talk to than she had originally thought and felt that in time they might count themselves as friends. 

One of the first groups to come over included B'Elanna to lend her expertise with problems that Carey was experiencing in Engineering. Voyager sent over Doctor Fitzgerald and representatives from Communications, including Harry Kim. 

As soon as B'Elanna materialized in the Transporter Room she kept her eyes peeled for her husband. Though she ran into a number of Voyager's crew, Tom was not among them. Finally she reached Engineering and prepared to assist Voyager's Chief of Engineering with a problem he was having rectifying a misalignment of the magnetic constrictors. 

Tom sat in the flight simulation holoprogram running through the day's assignment when Baythart and Hamilton stormed through the holodeck arch. 

"...did you see her? She's hot," Hamilton informed Baythart. 

"No, I can't say I've had the opportunity. Did you, Paris?" the younger of the two, Hamilton, asked their instructor and friend. 

Tom looked up from the controls. "See who?" 

"Liberty's engineer. I didn't know that Klingon women could be so beautiful." 

"You saw B'Elanna Torres?" Tom asked, suddenly interested in what they had to say. 

"B'Elanna Torres? That's her name?" 

Tom got up from the holo-helm and stood in front of the two pilots. "Where is she?" 

"She's in Engineering helping Carey. Why?" 

"No reason, it's just that I need to see her. Listen you two review the simulation program I've cued up and I'll be back before the end of the lesson." 

"Sure, Paris," Baythart replied. "Hey, are you okay?" 

"I'm fine," Tom said and quickly left the holodeck in search of his wife. 

"What's the matter with him?" Hamilton asked turning to the other pilot. 

"Beats me, but let's see what Tom left us to work on today?" 

"Okay, but he looked pretty anxious when we told him that she was on board." 

"Maybe he's got a thing for Klingons?" 

Hamilton shrugged and took his place at the helm. 

Chapter Eight 

Paris sprinted into Engineering just as B'Elanna was about to leave. 

"Thanks, Ms. Torres, I think I can take it from here," Joe Carey said. "I'll just see if I can get someone to escort you back to the Transporter Room. 

"Don't bother, I'm already here. Janeway sent me down to bring Ms. Torres back," Tom lied. B'Elanna turned around and tried hard not to smile upon seeing her husband. 

"Well, I would think that Janeway would want someone from Security to show her back, but..." 

"Call her if you want to, but she was going to use the holodeck," Tom looked suitably embarrassed and dropped his voice so only Joe could hear, "I think she's using that governess program again, and you know how she hates to be disturbed." 

Joe looked dubiously at the tall man. "Well, okay, but make sure that you take her directly to the transporter room and no side trips," Carey warned. 

"Of course," Tom turned to his wife and swung his arm out in a wide arc. "Right this way, ma'am." 

B'Elanna swept past him and he followed, joining her in the corridor. 

"Tom, I..." 

"Ssssh," he warned as they turned into the main corridor and encountered several other crewmembers. Finally, they reached the turbolift, Tom called for Deck Four and once it started moving signaled for the lift to pause. Without any preamble, he swept B'Elanna into his arms and kissed her passionately. 

"I've missed you so much," Tom said in between kisses. 

"And I've missed you." 

Tom backed her into the wall of the lift and began a new assault on her now swollen lips, parting them with his tongue in a desperate attempt to taste every bit of her sweetness before she had to leave. 

"I watch for you every night, tIqwIj." 

"And I watch for you as well. I love you." 

"Forever," Tom replied. 

So intent were they with their expression of love having so long been denied the opportunity, they didn't notice that the turbolift had starting moving again, having been reactivated by Security. 

"Tom, there is something that I need to tell you." 

Tom kissed her along her jawline and was reminded of the mating bites that had blessed their union. "I'm listening." 

"It's just that I'm..." 

"So, Tom Paris, you can kiss a Klingon," Megan Delaney spat, standing next to the security guard, "but you can't give me the time of day?" 

Paris tore his lips away from B'Elanna's throat and stared at the growing audience. *Damn, why now?* 

"Ms. Torres, if you'll follow me?" the guard requested and grabbed her by her upper arm leading her away from the group. 

B'Elanna reluctantly accompanied the guard, leaving behind her husband still ignorant of her condition. 

Tom watched her leave until she was out of sight. 

"Well, Tom, you didn't answer me?" Megan taunted. 

Tom turned his anger on the redhead. "Just leave me alone, I'll kiss whom I feel like and I don't need your permission to do so!" 

"Hey, don't you go yelling at Meg," Chorwal, a large man who worked in maintenance, threatened. 

"And you're going to stop me?" 

Those words were the last ones Paris remembered until he woke in Sickbay with Dr. Fitzgerald's friendless eyes gazing down at him. 

"You should learn to keep your mouth shut," the Doctor advised. Fitzgerald had despised Paris after he had been on Caldik Prime during the unfortunately accident there where three of Paris' classmates had died. "I've healed the bruises and the broken ribs, but you'll probably be sore for a few days." 

"Thanks," Tom eyed the Doctor warily. "Can I leave now?" 

"Please do, the Captain wants you to report to her ready room immediately." 

Limping down the hall, Paris made his way the turbolift and rode it to Deck 1. Stepping out of the lift, the Captain looked at him, rose from her seat and headed toward her ready room. Cavit sneered at the blond man as Tom walked past him. Stadi threw her instructor a look of support from her position at the helm. Tom half-smiled back at the Chief Pilot. 

"Mr. Paris," Janeway said as soon as the door to the ready room slid shut, "it has come to my attention that you were caught kissing B'Elanna Torres in the turbolift this afternoon." 

And if we hadn't been caught, we probably would have done more than kiss, Tom thought. 

Janeway was clearly upset and hadn't even offered Tom a seat, nor did she take one herself. 

"Mr. Paris, I am very disappointed in you. Even though I have taken your advice about trying to develop better relationships between our crew and theirs, it does not mean that I will tolerate any fraternizing with the Maquis crew. If Ms. Torres, or any other of the Maquis come aboard Voyager again, I will expect you to have no contact with them unless it is absolutely necessary. Do I make myself clear?!" 

"Yes, ma'am, but I can't guarantee that I will not attempt to kiss B'Elanna Torres again if she and I were to cross paths." 

Janeway gave Tom the most severe 'command' stare she could muster, but Paris returned it with one of his own that he had learned from his father. "Mr. Paris, perhaps you don't understand. Our two crews are not ready for that type of... involvement yet. If anything like this happens again, you will find yourself in the brig." 

Paris continued to stare at the woman in front of him. There was no way that he was going to agree not to see B'Elanna again if she happened to come on board Voyager or if he were fortunate enough to visit the Liberty. 

"Captain Janeway," Kim's voice rang out through the ready room, "we have five Kazon ships under full attack speed approaching Voyager and Liberty." Janeway and Paris glared at each other one last time and quickly returned to the brig. Janeway took her position at command central and Paris shadowed Stadi at the helm. 

"Red alert! Battlestations!" Janeway bellowed. "Mr. Kim open a communications line with the Liberty." 

Lights dimmed and the bridge became a whirlwind of concentrated activity. Tuvok manned the weapons station, Kim frantically scanned the enemy, and Stadi deftly manned her station. 

"Captain Chakotay, I would suggest that we keep an open comm channel during this battle to facilitate response efficiency," Janeway said to the Maquis Captain. 

"Acknowledged, we'll do the same, Chakotay out." 

Not seeing his wife on the bridge of the Liberty, Tom assumed that she must be in Engineering. 

"Kazon within 5,500 kilometers and closing," Kim informed the bridge crew. "Captain, we have visual." 

"Chakotay, I would suggest that we tackle the mother ship and you handle the small ones." 

"Very good," Chakotay replied. 

The viewscreen displayed an image of one very large Kazon ship flanked by four much smaller ships almost the size of one of the Voyager's shuttles. 

The Kazon vessels approached and without wasting time to speak to either captain, the Kazon starting firing at the ships. 

"Stadi, bring us around under the main ship's belly. Mr. Tuvok, prepare phasers and fire at will," Janeway ordered. 

Voyager dipped and dove under the Kazon mother ship, just as Paris had taught Stadi on the holodeck, while Tuvok tried to inflict damage to the alien ship. The Liberty flew into and around the four smaller ship taking shots at the enemy. Two of the smaller ships exploded almost right away, but the other two regrouped and came back at them to try again. 

Paris leaned toward the Chief Pilot. "Stadi, remember the holo- simulation I called 'the somersault'?" the Betazoid nodded and smiled when she understood. Taking the Voyager on another pass under the belly of the large ship, Stadi pitched Voyager in a way that allowed Tuvok to use the phasers to seriously weaken the other ship's shields. 

"Excellent work, Stadi, Tuvok," the Captain complimented. Tom smiled realizing that in a way it was a testimonial to his training abilities as well. 

The Liberty continued to fire upon the remaining two small ships but was starting to receive heavy damage. "Captain," Kim reported. "The Liberty has just been hit in the starboard nacelle and in the aft section near engineering." 

Tom thought his heart had stopped and he felt his stomach twist when Kim mentioned Engineering. 

"Captain, the main ship is powering up a new weapon, it's massive!" Kim warned. 

"Stadi, get us out of here now!!" Janeway roared. 

The Betazoid began to pull the ship around, but before Voyager could retreat to a safe distance, a huge energy wave struck the ship. Fires ignited on the bridge and heavy beams were dislodged from the ceiling. 

Paris pulled himself out from underneath a beam, thankful that he hadn't been pinned under it. He first turned his attention to the helm and found to his horror that Stadi had sustained a fatal injury when a metal strut had penetrated her rib cage. He swallowed and gently moved the pilot and took her position, steering Voyager out of harms way. 

"Status report!" Janeway yelled, struggling back to her seat. Looking down to her left she could see that her First Officer stared at her with unseeing eyes, he had taken a deadly blow to his head. 

"Heavy damage on decks 1, 5, and 6 with hull breaches in cargo bay 3. Environmental systems are still functioning, as are transporters. Weapons are at 52 percent and the shields are at 34 percent and falling," Harry reported grimly from his station. 

Chakotay hailed Voyager through a heavy layer of static. "Captain Janeway, we have suffered severe damage to our life support system, and our guidance system is disabled. Request emergency evacuation of the Liberty crew to the Voyager." 

"Granted. Mr. Kim, see that the entire crew is beamed aboard the ship immediately." 

"Everyone but me, Captain," Chakotay added. 

"But Chakotay..." 

"The Liberty is about to explode anyway, so I'm going to make good use of that. I'm going to ram this ship right down the Kazon's throat. All I ask is that you keep firing at their forward shields and keep a transporter lock on me. I'll tell you when to beam me out." 

"Very good, but don't cut it too fine." Janeway warned. "I'll put my best men on it. Harry keep a transporter lock on Chakotay and Tom show me what you can do." 

"Yes, ma'am," they chorused. 

As the Liberty's crew was being quickly whisked away to Voyager and Voyager kept pounding away at the crumbling Kazon ship's shields, Chakotay maneuvered the crippled Liberty towards the large ship. The Kazon did as Chakotay had anticipated and concentrated their fire power on Voyager, ignoring the smaller ship, thanks to Paris' piloting expertise. 

Chakotay was getting closer and closer until, immediately prior to ship impacting with the Kazon ship, Chakotay called for transport. Just as he dematerialized on the Liberty, the ship crashed into the Kazon vessel and both exploded. The two small surviving Kazon ships left the area with their tails between their legs. 

Chapter Nine 

Tom flew Voyager to a safe distance away from the debris before he was relieved by Baythart. 

"Stadi's dead," Tom sadly told the Irishman. "I'll bring her to Sickbay. 

No, you stay Tom, I'll do it, She'd want you to be at the helm." 

Tom nodded not being able to trust his own voice. 

Baythart picked up the lifeless body and left the bridge just as Chakotay had walked off the turbolift accompanied by a security guard. 

Tom turned back to the viewscreen and the anxious, sick feeling in his stomach returned. He knew then why he felt that way. His wife was hurt. B'Elanna, he thought. I've got to get to B'Elanna. 

"Captain, permission to go to Sickbay," Tom spouted. 

"But, Mr. Paris, you're not injured." 

Tom looked unwaveringly at Janeway. "No, Captain, but I've got to go. Someone I know needs my help." Without waiting for permission, Tom bolted for the turbolift. 

Janeway turned to Ensign Kim. "Harry, go find out what is going on and report back to me." 

"Yes, ma'am." Without hesitation, Harry took the next turbolift in search of his friend. 

Harry followed Tom to Sickbay and saw that the place was pandemonium. Injured people were streaming into the room, both Maquis and Starfleeters alike. 

Kim grimly noticed that Dr. Fitzgerald and his nurse were lying on the floor dead. "Computer, activate emergency medical hologram!" Harry yelled above the din. 

In an instant the EMH materialized in the middle of Sickbay. 

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency," the holodoctor requested. 

"Multiple injuries, some severe. We were just in a battle," Harry informed the Doctor. 

The Doctor grabbed a medical tricorder and enlisting the aid of Harry and a couple of ensigns who had stopped by Sickbay to see if they could help, proceeded to treat the wounded. 

Harry spotted Tom kneeling beside an obviously injured B'Elanna Torres. "Captain, Kim." 

"Go ahead, Harry." 

"Captain, we need help in Sickbay. Dr. Fitzgerald and his nurse are dead, I've activated the Emergency Medical Hologram, but it's bedlam down here." 

"I'll be right down. Tuvok, you've got the bridge. Get repair details up here immediately!" 

"Yes, Captain." the Vulcan replied. 

Janeway headed for the turbolift only to find that Chakotay was at her shoulder. 

"You don't mind if I come along do you? Some of those injured are Maquis, and I might be able to help." 

Janeway clasped him on the shoulder. "We can use all the help we can get." 

Tom applied pressure to a severe laceration B'Elanna received on her upper arm during the attack. Having lost so much blood, B'Elanna kept on drifting in and out of consciousness. 

"Take it easy, B'Elanna, help is on the way." 

B'Elanna slightly nodded her head. It hardly seemed real that she was with Tom again. Perhaps, she thought, I'm imagining it all. 

"How is she doing, Tom?" Harry asked approaching the pair. 

Tom shook his head indicating that he didn't think that she was doing very well. 

"I'll get the EMH." 

Harry went in search of the Doctor just as the two captains entered Sickbay. Issuing orders and helping with the injured Janeway and Chakotay finally made their way over to where B'Elanna lay. 

Tom looked up to see the two captains and ignored them. "Harry, we need the Doctor!" Tom yelled to his friend. In an instant, the EMH materialized at the side of B'Elanna's bed waving the medical tricorder scanner. 

Making his diagnosis, he took out the dermal regenerator and stepped over to the side of the bed that Paris had been on so he could repair B'Elanna's arm. Tom moved aside to stand at the foot of the bed near Janeway and Chakotay. The EMH healed the wound with the regenerator and administered a hypospray to stimulate the body into creating replacement blood. Feeling better, B'Elanna opened her eyes and saw the Doctor standing over her. 

"Other that this severe laceration and a broken rib along with some bumps and bruises, this woman seems fine. Even her baby appears to have suffered no ill effects," the EMH replied matter- of-factly. 

"Baby?" Paris, Chakotay, and Janeway chorused. The captains' faces contained looks of puzzlement while Tom's broke into a joyous smile. 

"Yes, baby. Actually a baby girl about eight weeks along and doing marvelously. 

"Who's the father?" Chakotay asked. 

Still grinning, Tom ignored the Maquis captain and went over to kneel beside his wife again. 

The EMH punched a few buttons. "According to the ships' manifests, a Thomas Paris is the father." 

Tom was exchanging loving words with his wife when Chakotay grabbed him by the shoulder. The older man pulled him around and sucker punched him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of the man and causing him to crash into a couple of hapless ensigns, sending all three tumbling to the deck. 

Chakotay turned to his engineer. "B'Elanna are you all right. What did Paris do to you, did he rape you? You know you don't have to carry this baby if you don't want to." 

B'Elanna looked at her Captain and motioned with her finger that he come down to her level so she could speak with him. Chakotay bent down and when he got close enough, B'Elanna's hand shot out, grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down so they were nose to nose. 

"Chakotay, *listen* to me. I am *pregnant* and proud to be carrying my *husband's* child, I would *never* abort it. If you have a *problem* with that, petaQ, then that is just too bad." She then pushed him away from her releasing the hold on the startled man's shirt. 

"How long have you two been married?" Chakotay asked, adjusting his clothing. 

"Since just before I was sent back to Voyager," Tom explained, getting to his feet and rejoining his wife. He tenderly smiled at B'Elanna and brushed her hair away from her face. B'Elanna seized his hand in her own and kissed first his fingers and then turning his hand over she kissed his palm. 

Bringing Tom's hand away from her mouth she again looked up at her captain. "We look the Klingon mating oath late at night in the brig, in fact, Chakotay," she said looking the Native American in the eye, "I was the one who initiated it." 

Chakotay had the decency to look chastened and returned to stand by Janeway's side. "I guess you're going to have to find Mr. Paris larger quarters," he suggested. 

Kathryn Janeway nodded her head in agreement. "And I think you have some explaining to do as to why they both happened to be in the brig?" Chakotay nodded 

Tom knelt down beside B'Elanna and placed his hand against her abdomen. "How have you been, have you been feeling all right?" 

"A little queasy occasionally and I've been very tired, but the worst thing was not being able to tell you about the baby. I tried when we were in the turbolift but, well you know, we were interrupted." 

Tom rose up from his kneeling position beside her bed and bent down toward her. "They can't keep us apart now, tIqwIj. We're together--now and forever." Then he lowered his mouth to meet hers and kissed her fully and passionately on the lips. 

Chapter Ten 

Several things changed after that day. 

With Cavit and Stadi having died in the battle, Janeway was faced with having to replace two very important members of her Senior Staff. And she and Chakotay spent hours in her ready room discussing the best way to integrate the two crews. 

From the start, Janeway insisted that the Maquis captain be part of the command structure. Thus, it was decided that he take over the position of First Officer that Cavit had held. When they finally came to that agreement, Janeway made an announcement to the crew. It surprised some, but most everyone agreed it would benefit the crew and facilitate relations between the Maquis and Starfleet. 

The next choice of who should replace Stadi, was a little more difficult. She had a several pilots with similar experience that had served with Stadi and were accustomed to flying Voyager. It was a difficult choice to make, but ultimately she decided that Baythart should be offered the position. 

Wanting to make the announcement with all the pilots present, Janeway requested the presence of Baythart, Hamilton, Stewart, and the junior pilots in her ready room. Chakotay took the helm during the meeting and watched as all the pilots strode through the bridge and entered the ready room. Janeway was already seated at the table and welcomed each pilot as they entered. 

"I'm glad you see you all together," Janeway said as she arose from her chair and smiled. "As you all know, Stadi was killed during that last attack with the Kazon. We will all miss her. But this also means that the position of Chief Pilot needs to be filled. I've thought about this for a long time, and have come to the conclusion that Ensign Baythart is the best suited for the job. Mr. Baythart please stand." Baythart looked nervously around the room and stood as ordered. "Ensign, it is my privilege to award you..." 

"I don't want it, Captain," he replied and shook his head. "It is not that I don't appreciate being chosen, but I am not the best pilot you have on this ship." 

Janeway looked confused. "But Ensign surely if you think this over you'd see that this is what is best for Voyager, for you to be named Chief Pilot." 

"But I have thought it over, Captain," Baythart looked around the room at all of the other pilots. "We all talked this over shortly after Stadi was killed," his voice choked when it spoke his friend's name. "Speaking for all of Voyager's pilots, we would like you to listen to what we have to say." 

Janeway nodded and sat back down at the head of the table. 

"All of the pilots are very proud to be in Starfleet, and in particular to be on Voyager and to serve under you. But over the past several weeks we have not only come to think of Tom Paris as a friend, but we've learned more about flying this ship from him than we ever did at the Academy. None of us are ashamed to say that we can never hope to be as good as he is, he is exceptional. Voyager's new Chief Pilot should be Tom Paris." 

Kathryn Janeway took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, then she looked at each of her pilots. Every face met her gaze unwaveringly. "You all feel the same way?" she asked. 

A chorus of 'yes, ma'ams' and 'yes, Captain,' arose from around the table. 

"I see. I have to give you all credit. That option hadn't occurred to me. But what if he won't take it?" 

Baythart looked at her stoically. "He'll take it. If he doesn't he'll have to contend with us." The pilots laughed and nodded their heads. 

The meeting broke up, Baythart relieved Chakotay at the helm, and the Captain and her new First Officer adjourned to talk about what had transpired in the meeting. By the time the Captain had explained what had been said, even Chakotay had to agree with the decision. 

B'Elanna and Tom had moved into a larger cabin after she came on board so that there'd be room for the baby when it arrived. They were assigned a cabin down the hall from Harry's quarters. It was a family cabin. equipped with two small bedrooms and a large bathroom. The pair were ecstatic with the extra room. Though they still received some sly looks from both the Maquis and Starfleet members of the crew, each day they seemed to find more friends on board. It seemed that being the only married couple on board plus the only woman expecting a child helped to mellow out old predjucides and hatreds. 

Harry had come by that afternoon and was sitting with the married couple talking about the latest Voyager gossip over cups of tea and coffee when the outer door's annunciator rang. 

"It's open!" Tom called out from across the room. The door slid open and Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay walked in surprising everyone. 

"Um...Captain, Commander," Tom said as he got up from his seat and walked around the table to greet their new guests. "It's good to see you. Can I get you something to drink? To eat?" 

"I didn't come here for pleasure, Mr. Paris, the Commander and I have come here on business," she explained. 

"Business? Something going wrong with the pilot training?" he asked. 

"No. Not really, it's just that the pilots and us," she indicated herself and Chakotay, "don't think that you have enough to do with just training my pilots. What do you think?" 

B'Elanna and Kim exchanged questioning looks before they looked back at the trio. 

"Well, I suppose I could help out somewhere else on the ship. You just tell me where and I'd be happy to try and lend a hand," Tom suggested. 

Janeway brought her finger up to her chin and turned away from Paris, walked a few steps and turned back to face him again, appearing to be in deep thought. Chakotay was impressed with her acting ability and tried hard not to show it. "I do have a position that I seem to be having problems with finding the right person to fill it. Chakotay, I, and a few others have discussed it and we feel that you might be the right man for the job. Though I will warn you it does require a lot of work and dedication." 

Tom was now curious about his new position, it sounded challenging whatever it was. He looked from Janeway to the Commander and back to the Captain, but their faces revealed nothing. If only Janeway would just spit it out and tell him, he thought. 

"Well I told you I'd be glad to help, just tell me what it is." Feeling a warm pair of arms encircle his waist he looked down to see that B'Elanna had come to stand beside him and offer her support if it was needed. 

"How would you feel about assuming the position of Chief Pilot on Voyager?" she asked with pride. 

Tom stared at her and B'Elanna hugged him tighter. "Ch--chief Pilot?" he queried. Had he heard her right? 

"I've been told that you are the best qualified man for the job-- *Lieutenant*." Paris did a double take. He just had to get his hearing checked. 

"*Lieutenant* Tom Paris," B'Elanna said, "I kind of like the sound of that?" 

Tom had to agree with her, it had been a long time since he had a rank in front of his name, a long time since he had had the rank 'lieutenant' stripped from him. 

"Then you'll accept?" Janeway asked. "You do know, I'll still expect you to conduct training classes." 

Tom stepped forward and shook her offered hand with both of his. "I'm speechless, Captain. I hardly know what so say but thank you." 

"Thanks is all I needed to hear, Lieutenant. Commander? Think you can keep an eye on him on the bridge?" 

Chakotay laughed. "I would be either an honor or a curse," he replied. "I'll let you know later." 

"And B'Elanna," the Captain said addressing the pregnant woman. "It is my hope that you'll be able to offer your expertise to Carey now that you are on board. According to Joe, you are an engineering marvel, and," she said for B'Elanna's ears alone "he doesn't give out compliments easily. In fact, he had better watch himself of he may have to relinquish his "chief" title to you." B'Elanna laughed. 

"I'd be happy to Captain." 

***^^^***^^^**^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^*** 

Months passed and B'Elanna got larger as the baby grew inside of her. Tom loved his life now. He flew the best ship in the Delta Quadrant during the day and came home to the most beautiful, exciting wife he could possibly imagine at night. 

Finally in the middle of one night, B'Elanna poked him in the ribs. "It's time, Tom. My water broke." 

"yeah...ump...water..." mumbled Tom and he rolled back over went back to sleep until B'Elanna gave him a mighty push and he plummeted onto the floor. "What..what was that for? I wasn't hogging the sheets." 

"It's time, Tom. The baby is coming." 

"The...the baby?" 

The pair stumbled into Sickbay, called for the EMH to activate, and several hours later a ear-splitting cry from their little baby girl resounded throughout the room and down the hall. 

"She's beautiful, B'Elanna. Just like you." Tom bent down and gave his tired wife a kiss on her forehead and on her lips. 

They spent some time with her by themselves before they allowed visitors to come in. B'Elanna was holding their baby, who was wrapped in a white blanket to her chest and Tom stood behind her running his fingers gently through the baby's wisps of platinum hair. 

Harry, Janeway, and Chakotay walked in all grinning with pride at the newest addition to the Voyager family. 

"She's gorgeous, B'Elanna, Tom," the Captain pronounced. 

"She's got your hair, Tom?" Chakotay observed. Tom nodded and blushed with pride. 

Harry moved to get a better look at the new family. "So what's her name?" 

"T'Leni Janelle Paris," B'Elanna told them proudly. 

Soon the visitors left. B'Elanna breast fed T'Leni and then she put her down in the bassinet for a nap. 

Tom stared at the little infant in awe. This was his baby. His little girl. He silently vowed that no matter what it took that he'd be the best father he could possibly be to this little miracle. 

B'Elanna could almost hear her husband's thoughts, and contentedly smiled at her family. 

The End. 

Please--pretty please--send me email at [kelhapam@worldpath.net][1] . Even just to let me know that you read the story and made it through til the end. 

[Click here to return to my home page][2]   
[http://unix.worldpath.net/~kelhapam][2]

   [1]: mailto:kelhapam@lr.net
   [2]: http://unix.worldpath.net/~kelhapam



End file.
